The transport of chemical properties by ocean currents, and thus the divergence/convergence of properties within ocean regions, is strongly influenced by the global hydrological cycle. Specifically, a significant flux of properties such as inorganic carbon and total alkalinity may accompany the oceanic freshwater transport. Previous investigators have proposed the use of salinity normalization to eliminate the impact of the poorly known freshwater flux on the calculation of the meridional transport of inorganic carbon and dissolved oxygen. The validity of these normalizations is examined. Two different forms of salinity normalization are found in the literature. Analysis presented here shows that neither of these methods results in a normalized property whose transport and flux divergence is fully independent of the oceanic freshwater flux. Employing these previous attempts as guidance, a new form of salinity normalization is found which does satisfy the goal of yielding an accurate estimate of the net oceanic flux of property without explicit calculation of the oceanic freshwater divergence. The validity of this normalization, however, requires an ocean circulation consistent with the large-scale salt balance. The calculation is implicitly dependent on the freshwater cycle and the investigator must still carefully examine the implied freshwater transports. Furthermore, consideration of the uncertainties involved in estimating the oceanic freshwater flux reveals that the use of salinity normalizations do not decrease the impact of errors in the freshwater flux on the estimation of oceanic carbon transports. Thus, while a salinity normalization can be properly defined, it offers no advantage, either for convenience or increased accuracy, over an explicit calculation of the oceanic property transport associated with the freshwater flux. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union